Yemen has handed over 29 Saudis wanted for suspected links to al-Qaida, the interior ministry announced on Thursday.

"As part of joint efforts between security services in the two countries, the kingdom has received 29 Saudis... (who) had joined al-Qaida in Yemen," interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told Agence France Presse.

Yemen has handed over 29 Saudis wanted for suspected links to Al-Qaida, the interior ministry announced on Thursday.

"As part of joint efforts between security services in the two countries, the kingdom has received 29 Saudis... (who) had joined Al-Qaida in Yemen," interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told AFP.

Fearful of Arab Spring-inspired unrest, Gulf monarchies have stepped up efforts to monitor and control the media, particularly online, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, which is on the group's "Enemies of the Internet" list and ranks 164 out of 179 on its 2014 World Press Freedom Index, has been particularly aggressive in policing the Internet, including by arresting those who post critical articles or comments, it said.

A French Military delegation will arrive in Lebanon next week to follow up discussions over the Saudi grant to the military institution to purchase French weapons, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, the delegation will tackle with Lebanese high-ranking military officials the mechanism of handing over arms to the Lebanese army.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora returned to Lebanon on Tuesday after a short visit to the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, for talks with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri concerning the latest local and regional developments.

According to An Nahar newspaper, talks between al-Mustaqbal chief Saad Hariri and Saniora will focus on the latest developments regarding the cabinet formation process.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed on Sunday the need for Lebanon to enjoy a strong army “capable of deterring any Israeli assault,” reported Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

He told the radio: “We should not compare Syria's actions towards Lebanon to Israeli assaults against the country.”

A fire at a hotel in the Saudi holy city of Medina on Saturday killed 15 pilgrims and injured 130 others, state-run news agency SPA reported.

Officials quoted by SPA did not identify the victims but said around 700 pilgrims had been staying at the hotel in the western city of Medina to perform the omra, or minor, pilgrimage.

The death of an ailing woman student at a Saudi university has stirred controversy on social media after an ambulance was denied access under the conservative Muslim kingdom's segregation laws.

Amna Bawazeer, 24, died of a heart attack in the compound of the social sciences faculty of Riyadh's King Saud University.

President Michel Suleiman participated on Friday in a ceremony in Tunisia to celebrate the adoption of the country's new constitution three years after the revolution and attended by the heads of state.

Suleiman voiced hope during a brief speech before the Tunisian national assembly that Tunis enjoys stability and prosperity after the adoption of the new constitution.

A Saudi man jailed in Guantanamo has been charged over a bombing attack against a French oil tanker ship in 2002 in Yemen, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza Al Darbi, 39, was sent before a military tribunal at the U.S. prison in Cuba for terror suspects for, among other alleged offenses, planning, abetting and supporting the commission of the attack against the ship MV Limburg in the port of Aden.